Psychophysical Characteristics Research Articles

Price Determination for Educational Services Based on the Investments in Education

Abstract The study aims at highlighting the link between educational marketing (product/service and price determination for educational services) and investment in education, using empirical models and customization of classic approaches (interpolation method) addressed to individual educational investment. The methodology discussed in the paper, considers essential invariants of these educational investments, such as seniority - part of the work experience and period of studies. In the models presented, the level and the period of studies are quantified through transferable credits, expressing units of time, normal volume of working alleged student learning. It is also used a parameter which introduces an essential element of the quality of work - the psycho-physical characteristics of the fellow that are correlated with age. Empirical study materializes on developing, while testing and validation of the models show that the rate of return to investment in education is a rationale for individuals to decide investing in their education. The study offers some customized recommendation to improve reverse marketing price policy of the educational services. The study results lead us to the conclusion that education providers (colleges, universities, other training entities) and clients should take into account that education is an investment. The private return of investment in education - as argument of educational marketing (price policy) is increasingly important in the context of a fragmentary and dynamic market, led by strong competition.

Testing the psychophysical characteristics of professional drivers – Can we identify unsafe drivers?

Most experts in the field of traffic safety agree with the fact that the human factor is the most responsible for the occurrence of traffic accidents. Many authors have demonstrated the influence of psychophysical characteristics on driver’s behavior in traffic. The question arose whether the testing of driver’s psychophysical characteristics can identify unsafe drivers. The aim of this work was to conduct testing of psychophysical characteristics of professional drivers from a transport company and to compare the results of those drivers who have been in a traffic accident with those who have never been in a traffic accident. It turns out that there were no statistical differences between the test results of psychophysical characteristics of the drivers who had been in accidents versus those who hadn’t been in accidents (which means that tests of psychophysical characteristic of drivers can not accurately determine the driver’s risk of accidents). An additional objective was also to examine the effect of the driver's age and the level of formal education in their psychophysical characteristics. It has been shown that younger drivers and drivers with high levels of education have better psychophysical characteristics in regards to driving safely.

Dependence of Nociceptive Detection Thresholds on Physiological Parameters and Capsaicin-Induced Neuroplasticity: A Computational Study.

Physiological properties of peripheral and central nociceptive subsystems can be altered over time due to medical interventions. The effective change for the whole nociceptive system can be reflected in changes of psychophysical characteristics, e.g., detection thresholds. However, it is challenging to separate contributions of distinct altered mechanisms with measurements of thresholds only. Here, we aim to understand how these alterations affect Aδ-fiber-mediated nociceptive detection of electrocutaneous stimuli. First, with a neurophysiology-based model, we study the effects of single-model parameters on detection thresholds. Second, we derive an expression of model parameters determining the functional relationship between detection thresholds and the interpulse interval for double-pulse stimuli. Third, in a case study with topical capsaicin treatment, we translate neuroplasticity into plausible changes of model parameters. Model simulations qualitatively agree with changes in experimental detection thresholds. The simulations with individual forms of neuroplasticity confirm that nerve degeneration is the dominant mechanism for capsaicin-induced increases in detection thresholds. In addition, our study suggests that capsaicin-induced central plasticity may last at least 1 month.

Numerosity representations in crows obey the Weber-Fechner law.

The ability to estimate number is widespread throughout the animal kingdom. Based on the relative close phylogenetic relationship (and thus equivalent brain structures), non-verbal numerical representations in human and non-human primates show almost identical behavioural signatures that obey the Weber-Fechner law. However, whether numerosity discriminations of vertebrates with a very different endbrain organization show the same behavioural signatures remains unknown. Therefore, we tested the numerical discrimination performance of two carrion crows (Corvus corone) to a broad range of numerosities from 1 to 30 in a delayed match-to-sample task similar to the one used previously with primates. The crows' discrimination was based on an analogue number system and showed the Weber-fraction signature (i.e. the 'just noticeable difference' between numerosity pairs increased in proportion to the numerical magnitudes). The detailed analysis of the performance indicates that numerosity representations in crows are scaled on a logarithmically compressed 'number line'. Because the same psychophysical characteristics are found in primates, these findings suggest fundamentally similar number representations between primates and birds. This study helps to resolve a classical debate in psychophysics: the mental number line seems to be logarithmic rather than linear, and not just in primates, but across vertebrates.

Peculiarities of Comprehensive Examination in Russia for Foreign Citizens with Visual Impairments and Musculoskeletal System Disorders

The article deals with the conditions for a comprehensive examination for the right of employment for foreign citizens with visual impairments and musculoskeletal system disorders. The psychophysical characteristics of persons with disabilities are described; the technique required for the successful execution of test tasks in the Russian language, Russian history and the basics of Russian legislation has been proposed.

Influence of the Modern Web Communication on the Psychological Characteristics of the Rising Generation (12-13 Year Old) from the View of the Information Images Theory

The article considers the impact of modern Web communications on the psychophysical characteristics of youth. The authors conducted an experimental study of the influence of modern virtual-communication tools on the basic psychological and psychophysical characteristics of schoolchildren (12-13 years old) in terms of the Information Images Theory. It was found that such parameters as trait anxiety, emotional stress and excitability of the right hemisphere is largely subject to changes depending on incoming information and its intensity.

GENETIC DETERMINATIONS OF MENTALITY

Purpose. The article is devoted to clarifying the role of physicality and psycho-physical characteristics of a person as a preconditions of the mentality forming. It is conducted a retrospective analysis of discourse on the mentality, the history of the concept, its temporal characteristics and collective conditioning. The concept of mentality has been widely studied in various fields of socio-humanities such as: history, psychology, and even marginal context of scientific discourses, including the esoteric. This study attempted to analyse the mentality phenomenon through the prism of the concept of experience. Methodology. The concept of experience was acquired by essential justification through the representatives of the phenomenological approach - the late Edmund Husserl, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Bernhard Valdenfels. On the other hand the concept of mentality as a form of collective unconscious experience was entered to the scientific vocabulary by the representatives of the French historical science - M. Bloch, L. Febvre, J. Le Goff and others. At the intersection of these two methods, historical and phenomenological, the genetic method has been established – as a history of coverage and experience of internalization. Thanks to the application of genetic method the transition of phenomenon into the concept was examined. Novelty. The problem of change dynamics of mental phenomenon, in particular psycho-physical nature of a person, which has been only mentioned in F. Braudel works but has not received the adequate theoretical coverage, is analysed. To explain the practices of physicality and causality of this factor the action component of the cultural the overview of developments of such authors as V. Rozin (2005), M. Epstein (2005), N. Brunov (2003), A. Soares, M. Farhangmehr, A. Shoham (2007), D. Vaskul, F. Vannini Hospital (2012) was committed. Conclusions. The transition to paradoxical behaviour that is oriented on sign, and not on signalling actions, to the productive, and not to reactive activity, transformed the human physicality, as well as the person's self-image and contributed to the formation of specifically human environment of existence, which is called in the broadest sense the world of culture, but not nature.

Emotional self-control, coping with stress and psycho-physical well-being of prison officers

Mental and physical health status is closely associated with the specific character of work in the structures of the uniformed services. The aim of the study was to examine how self-control, revealed strategies of coping with stress, sociodemographic factors differentiate the level of psychological and physical well-being of prison officers, and what is the predictor of psychological and physical well-being in this occupational group. A questionnaire survey was conducted in a group of 75 prison officers working in the Prison Potulice Security Department. In the study the following tools were used: the questionnaire on "Psychosocial working conditions", popular questionnaire on emotional intelligence (Popularny Kwestionariusz Inteligencji Emocjonalnej--PKIE), Measure Coping Strategies with Stress (Mini-COPE) and the questionnaire on sociodemographic variables. A higher level of mental and physical well-being of the subjects was accompanied by a higher level of declared active coping and a lower level in the range of helplessness, avoidance, turn to religion and sense of humor. Regression analysis showed that the levels of emotional control, helplessness strategy and support seeking strategies are important predictors of physical well-being of the dependent variable. As regards the psychological well-being, significant predictors are: the levels of emotional control, sense of humor and support seeking. The value of the results is limited due to the methodology used to collect questionnaires. In our study a random trial was not used as the questionnaires were completed only by individuals interested in the subject under study. Knowledge about the specificity of the psychophysical characteristics of prison officers should be taken into account when designing the tools of occupational health promotion. Studies show an average low level of perceived well-being with a high level of self-control.

An anatomical and psychophysical comparison of subjective verticals in patients with right brain damage

IntroductionBrain hemisphere lesions often cause a contralesional tilt of the subjective vertical (SV) a phenomenon related to spatial neglect and postural disorders. Depending on the method employed, different perceptual systems come into play when this gravitational vertical is assessed. Here, we compared the anatomical and psychophysical characteristics of modality-dependent SV biases in patients with right hemisphere stroke. MethodsThe SV was measured with visual, haptic and visual-haptic modalities (SV, SVV, SVHV) in 46 patients with a relatively recent stroke. Voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping (performed with NPM®) was used to highlight brain areas in which lesions best explained the severity of task biases (p < .05). ResultsLesions explaining the SVV tilt (TSVV) were centered on the posterior part of the middle temporal gyrus, those explaining the TSHV were more limited and anterior, without convergence with the former. Lesions explaining the TSVHV were centered on the superior temporal gyrus and more anterior those explaining the TSVV, with convergence with lesions explaining both the TSVV and the TSHV. Patients showed counterclockwise deviations in the SVs. Constant and variable errors were greater for the SHV than for the SVV and for the SVHV. The TSVV and TVHV were closely related to the presence of left spatial neglect and hemianopia. ConclusionsErrors in the SVV and (at a lesser degree) SVHV were preferentially related to lesions in visual associative cortex. The SVV and especially the SVHV provide valuable estimates of patient difficulties, in view of the lower associated variable errors (i.e., greater precision) and closer relationships with clinical disorders.

Analysis of the characteristics of Federated Carpfishing Anglers in Spain

The objective of this work is to know the characteristics of the federated sport anglers who practice the method of fishing known as Carpfishing. The sample is composed of 47 anglers, (n=47) of different fishing clubs that practice the method of Carpfishing in Spain. The investigation was carried out with a quantitative design that was both transversal and descriptive. A descriptive analysis was done in which values of frequency and percentage were found. In the second place, the ANOVA test was performed to compare the differences between groups. The results demonstrate that significant differences were found in distinct items in accordance to the grouping variables analyzed. Among the conclusions, it is pointed out that in relation to the psychophysical characteristics related to the sport that the anglers try to spend as little time as possible without sleeping during a competition.

Psychophysical characteristics of operation-response noise perception

Psychophysical characteristics of operation-response noise perception

Psychological and psycho-physical training as a part of physical education of students in higher educational establishments

Purpose: to analyze the phenomenon of psychological and psycho-physical training as part of physical education of students. Material: literary sources about problem investigation. Results: are given and analyzed a number of factors that determine the need for higher education in the special psychological and psycho-physical preparation for professional work. The question of psychological and psycho-physical preparation of students for professional work in the structure of physical education has considered. The difference has shown in the proposed concept of "psychological and psycho-physical training" known in physical education concept of "professionally applied physical training" and "psycho-physical preparation". Psychological and psycho-physical readiness is considered in the work as a kind of substructure overall personality structure. A model of psychological and psycho-physical preparedness of the student has proposed in this work. Conclusions: psychological and psycho-physical preparation of students for professional work can be done in physical education. It should be considered as part of physical education students in relation to specialized psychological and psychophysical characteristics of future careers.

An association analysis between psychophysical characteristics and genome-wide gene expression changes in human adaptation to the extreme climate at the Antarctic Dome Argus.

Genome-wide gene expression measurements have enabled comprehensive studies that integrate the changes of gene expression and phenotypic information to uncover their novel associations. Here we reported the association analysis between psychophysical phenotypes and genome-wide gene expression changes in human adaptation to one of the most extreme climates on Earth, the Antarctic Dome Argus. Dome A is the highest ice feature in Antarctica, and may be the coldest, driest and windiest location on earth. It is considered unapproachable due to its hostile environment. In 2007, a Chinese team of 17 male explorers made the expedition to Dome A for scientific investigation. Overall, 133 psychophysical phenotypes were recorded, and genome-wide gene expression profiles from the blood samples of the explorers were measured before their departure and upon their arrival at Dome A. We found that mood disturbances, including tension (anxiety), depression, anger and fatigue, had a strong, positive, linear relationship with the level of a male sex hormone, testosterone, using the Pearson correlation coefficient (PCC) analysis. We also demonstrated that significantly lowest-level Gene Ontology groups in changes of gene expression in blood cells with erythrocyte removal were consistent with the adaptation of the psychophysical characteristics. Interestingly, we discovered a list of genes that were strongly related to significant phenotypes using phenotype and gene expression PCC analysis. Importantly, among the 70 genes that were identified, most were significantly related to mood disturbances, where 42 genes have been reported in the literature mining, suggesting that the other 28 genes were likely novel genes involved in the mood disturbance mechanism. Taken together, our association analysis provides a reliable method to uncover novel genes and mechanisms related to phenotypes, although further studies are needed.

The eye-size illusion: Psychophysical characteristics, generality, relation to holistic processing, and a role for visual experience

The eye-size illusion: Psychophysical characteristics, generality, relation to holistic processing, and a role for visual experience

Can Approximate Mental Calculation Account for Operational Momentum in Addition and Subtraction?

The operational momentum (OM) effect describes a cognitive bias whereby we overestimate the results of mental addition problems while underestimating for subtraction. To test whether the OM emerges from psychophysical characteristics of the mental magnitude representation we measured two basic parameters (Weber fraction and numerical estimation accuracy) characterizing the mental magnitude representation and participants' performance in cross-notational addition and subtraction problems. Although participants were able to solve the cross-notational problems, they consistently chose relatively larger results in addition problems than in subtraction problems, thus replicating and extending previous results. Combining the above measures in a psychophysical model allowed us to partially predict the chosen results. Most crucially, however, we were not able to fully model the OM bias on the basis of these psychophysical parameters. Our results speak against the idea that the OM is due to basic characteristics of the mental magnitude representation. In turn, this might be interpreted as evidence for the assumption that the OM effect is better explained by attentional shifts along the mental magnitude representation during mental calculation.

The eye-size illusion: psychophysical characteristics, generality, and relation to holistic face processing.

Rakover [(2011). In Y. H. Zhang (Ed.), Advances in face image analysis: Techniques and technologies (pp. 316-333). Hershey, PA: IGI Global] observed a novel eye-size illusion: when increasing the size of a face but keeping the size of its eyes unchanged, the eyes are perceived to be smaller than in the original face. Here, we systematically manipulated the face size and found that the magnitude of this illusion linearly changed as a function of the face frame size (experiment 1). Additionally, the same magnitude of an illusion was observed for the perception of the size of the mouth when we changed the face frame but kept the mouth size constant (experiment 2). Further, when the faces and eyes were presented upside down, the magnitude of the illusion was significantly reduced in both Chinese participants (experiment 3) and Caucasian participants (experiment 4). The results suggest that the perception of eye or mouth size occurs in the relational context of the whole face; and when the face is inverted, thereby disrupting holistic processing, the magnitude of the illusion is reduced. We therefore suggest that holistic processing is involved in producing the illusion.

The role of conceptual knowledge in understanding synaesthesia: Evaluating contemporary findings from a “hub-and-spokes” perspective

Synesthesia is a phenomenon in which stimulation in one sensory modality triggers involuntary experiences typically not associated with that stimulation. Inducing stimuli (inducers) and synesthetic experiences (concurrents) may occur within the same modality (e.g., seeing colors while reading achromatic text) or span across different modalities (e.g., tasting flavors while listening to music). Although there has been considerable progress over the last decade in understanding the cognitive and neural mechanisms of synesthesia, the focus of current neurocognitive models of synesthesia does not encompass many crucial psychophysical characteristics documented in behavioral research. Prominent theories of the neurophysiological basis of synesthesia construe it as a perceptual phenomenon and hence focus primarily on the modality-specific brain regions for perception. Many behavioral studies, however, suggest an essential role for conceptual-level information in synesthesia. For example, there is evidence that synesthetic experience arises subsequent to identification of an inducing stimulus, differs substantially from real perceptual events, can be akin to perceptual memory, and is susceptible to lexical/semantic contexts. These data suggest that neural mechanisms lying beyond the realm of the perceptual cortex (especially the visual system), such as regions subserving conceptual knowledge, may play pivotal roles in the neural architecture of synesthesia. Here we discuss the significance of non-perceptual mechanisms that call for a re-evaluation of the emphasis on synesthesia as a perceptual phenomenon. We also review recent studies which hint that some aspects of synesthesia resemble our general conceptual knowledge for object attributes, at both psychophysical and neural levels. We then present a conceptual-mediation model of synesthesia in which the inducer and concurrent are linked within a conceptual-level representation. This “inducer-to-concurrent” nexus is maintained within a supramodal “hub,” while the subjective (bodily) experience of its resultant concurrent (e.g., a color) may then require activation of “spokes” in the perception-related cortices. This hypothesized “hub-and-spoke” structure would engage a distributed network of cortical regions and may account for the full breadth of this intriguing phenomenon.

Separate Mechanisms for Perception of Numerosity and Density

Despite the existence of much evidence for a number sense in humans, several researchers have questioned whether number is sensed directly or derived indirectly from texture density. Here, we provide clear evidence that numerosity and density judgments are subserved by distinct mechanisms with different psychophysical characteristics. We measured sensitivity for numerosity discrimination over a wide range of numerosities: For low densities (less than 0.25 dots/deg2), thresholds increased directly with numerosity, following Weber’s law; for higher densities, thresholds increased with the square root of texture density, a steady decrease in the Weber fraction. The existence of two different psychophysical systems is inconsistent with a model in which number is derived indirectly from noisy estimates of density and area; rather, it points to the existence of separate mechanisms for estimating density and number. These results provide strong confirmation for the existence of neural mechanisms that sense number directly, rather than indirectly from texture density.

A mathematical model of “Gone with the Wind”

We develop a mathematical model for mimicking the love story between Scarlett and Rhett described in “Gone with the Wind”. In line with tradition in classical physics, the model is composed of two Ordinary Differential Equations, one for Scarlett and one for Rhett, which encapsulate their main psycho-physical characteristics. The two lovers are described as so-called insecure individuals because they respond very strongly to small involvements of the partner but then attenuate their reaction when the pressure exerted by the partner becomes too high. These characteristics of Scarlett and Rhett clearly emerge during the first part of the film and are sufficient to develop a model that perfectly predicts the complex evolution and the dramatic end of the love story. Since the predicted evolution of the romantic relationship is a direct consequence of the characters of the two individuals, the agreement between the model and the film supports the high credibility of the story. Although credibility of a fictitious story is not necessary from a purely artistic point of view, in most cases it is very appreciated, at the point of being essential in making the film popular. In conclusion, we can say that we have explained with a scientific approach why “Gone with the Wind” has become one of the most successful films of all times.

The Osteoarthritis Knee Model: Psychophysical Characteristics and Putative Outcomes

The knee osteoarthritis (KOA) model is a convenient and coherent archetype that is frequently used in pharmaceutical trials of drugs with analgesic and/or anti-inflammatory properties; yet, little is known about its specific pathophysiology. The presumed chronic inflammatory etiology of osteoarthritis suggests that nociceptive processes and neurogenic inflammation predominate in this condition. However, most chronic pain conditions are associated with changes in peripheral and central processing. Recent data corroborate this as an important mechanism in KOA. We compared psychophysical characteristics (including thermal Quantitative Sensory Testing); thermal, mechanical, and functional wind-up; thermal and mechanical aftersensations; and pressure algometry of 37 subjects with KOA with 35 age- and sex-matched controls. A third of the KOA subjects demonstrated hypoesthesia to vibration and the 4.56 von Frey fiber, yet few showed allodynia in their worse knee. The majority of subjects had abnormalities to pinprick (41% were hyperalgesic and 27% were hypoesthetic). Compared to controls, the more painful knee was hypoesthetic to cold detection and had greater thermal wind-up, lower pressure-pain thresholds, thermal and mechanical aftersensations, and twice the pain ratings of controls after stair climb. Substantial intraindividual differences were found in KOA subjects and controls for mechanical wind-up and algometric thresholds. PerspectiveThese results develop the KOA model and suggest mechanistic hypotheses. Certain of these tests may ultimately prove to be responsive, quasi-objective, and quantitative outcomes for research and lend empirical support to the notion of measurable sensitization in osteoarthritis.